News Archive

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Law Problems Continue
August 2 2002
By Bryan Hersh of 49ers Paradise
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Everything seemed to be going right as the 49ers flew across the International Date Line and into Japan this week. Sure, the team had a few minor injuries across the roster, but all in all things were looking up for a team that had three arrests this off-season. Then along came Mike Rumph’s arraignment which was reportedly set for yesterday (Thursday).

Mike Rumph is obviously in Japan and that wouldn’t be an issue, if his attorney had been present and accounted for at the arraignment for Rumph’s DUI charge. However, Rumph’s attorney was not at the arraignment, and the police have since issues another arrest of Rumph.

Rumph’s lawyer claimed that he had pleaded for, and was granted a continuance on the proceedings. However, a spokesman for the Miami-Date Attorney office reported that Rumph’s court file had no record of such a pleading.

The way I see it, there are a few possibilities on what actually happened here. The first, is that Rumph and his attorney were indeed granted a continuance, that was mistakenly not recorded. While this may not show up in Rumph’s records, it could likely be found out by reading a transcript of his hearing. Rumph of course would be in the best shape if this was the situation.

The second situation could have been that Rumph’s lawyer forgot about the arraignment, and hence did not attend. Under such a situation, Rumph would likely sue for mal-practice.

Of course it’s possible that Rumph and his agent just blew the arraignment off. However, I’m going to give the player the benefit of the doubt on this one. Hopefully all can be worked out before Rumph’s return to the United States. It would be awfully embarrassing to be lead from the airport in handcuffs to a police station. Also the 49ers likely have to make sure that they would not be charged with any sort of “interfering with police investigation” suits.